Thursday, May 05, 2016

Group wants Glacier Park helicopter tours permanently grounded

Click on a website Mary T. McClelland created a few days ago, and you’ll see waves lapping at the shore of Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park. But what you’ll hear is the noise of a helicopter passing overhead. “It makes you want to turn it off, doesn’t it?” McClelland says. “That’s sort of the point, because when you’re there, you can’t turn it off.” McClelland this week released an open letter to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell on behalf of Friends for a Quiet! Glacier Coalition, which calls for an end to scenic helicopter tours over the park by 2017. The website, quietglacier.wix.com/coalitioninformation, is gathering signatures for a petition directed to Jewell, National Park Service director Jonathan Jarvis and Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, which asks for just that.“Glacier’s solitude has been shattered by hundreds of helicopter overflights,” McClelland’s letter says, “and the incessant noise pollution endured by wildlife and visitors is destroying what Glacier stands for — the pinnacle of natural beauty and tranquility.”...more

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